Top 10 Area Football Rankings For Minnesota (Week 2)

Moorhead’s defense limited Alexandria to six points after giving up a 76-yard touchdown run on the second play of the game. A big part of that was Armando Rodriguez (right) who was everywhere on the field.

The top 10 in Minnesota stays the same for the area, but Park Christian, Verndale and Norman County East-Ulen-Hitterdal are knocking on the door after big wins in Week 1 if any team slips up in Week 2.

1. Mahnomen (1-0)

Last week: 54-0 win at Pillager

Next up: Red Lake County (1-0) at Oklee, 7 p.m., Friday

Mahnomen rolled a Pillager team that went 9-2 last season and made it to the Section 6A championship game. The Indians had eight shutouts last season. One in the books this season.

2. Detroit Lakes (1-0)

Last week: 35-20 win at Fargo North (N.D.)

Next up: Host Crookston (1-0), 7 p.m., Friday

Detroit Lakes stumbled out of the 2013 gate, trailing Fargo North 6-0 after the first quarter. The Lakers woke up. Behind a big offensive line anchored by Kirby Siewert, quarterback Michael Herzog and running back Jarret Nosal went wild. Herzog had four rushing touchdowns on 17 carries for 87 yards and Nosal ran for 171 yards on just 12 carries.

3. Hawley (1-0)

Last week: 35-14 win over Park Rapids at home

Next up: Host Warroad (0-1), 7 p.m., Friday

The connection of juniors seemed to be in full force in Week 1, as quarterback Jordan Harms found tight end/wide receiver Ben Ellefson twice for touchdowns.

Perham had its hands full with Pelican Rapids, but Payton Jordahl came out as the hero and Eli Beachy showed he can certainly help replace last year’s all-state first team QB Jordan Hein. Jordahl had 179 yards rushing and two TDs and returned a fumble 73 yards for a TD with time expired in the first half to give Perham a 22-19 lead going into the break. Beachy went for 110 yards and two TDs on just 12 carries.

5. Wheaton-Herman-Norcross (1-0)

Last week: 38-14 win at Ashby

Next up: Ortonville (0-1) at Ortonville, 7 p.m., Friday

Carter Thiel picked up right where he left off with a 70-yard touchdown reception and two rushing touchdowns in Week 1. Ortonville gave Underwood all they could handle in a 39-38 loss in Week 1, so this will not be a cakewalk for the Warriors.

6. Ada-Borup (1-0)

Last week: 47-6 win over Climax-Fisher at home

Next up: Waubun (1-0) at Waubun, 7 p.m., Friday

It was the Lance Ruebke show in Week 1. He had three rushes for 73 yards and three TDs and had three catches for 85 yards and two touchdowns in Week 1. JD Kappes was efficient at QB going 5-for-6 passing for 99 yards, one TD and an INT and Blake Fetting had nine rushes for 54 yards and a TD. When the three-headed monster of Fetting, Kappes and Ruebke work like that, Ada-Borup is unbeatable.

7. Barnesville (1-0)

Last week: 37-14 win over Otter Tail Central at Henning

Next up: Host New York Mills (1-0), 7 p.m., Friday

Barnesville handled an Otter Tail Central team that went 7-3 last season and returned their QB, top rusher and top receiver rather easily. Teams should really stop kicking to Michael Strand. He had three returns for 111 yards. Can’t avoid him completely though, as he ran for 237 yards on 13 carries with touchdown runs of 81 and 75 yards. Trojans have the task of stopping Tyler Patron, who led New York Mills to its first opening-game victory in five years in Week 1.

8. Underwood (1-0)

Last week: 39-38 win over Ortonville at home

Next up: Verndale (1-0) at Verndale, 7 p.m., Friday

Underwood survived Ortonville last week and it won’t get any easier with Verndale coming off a 50-6 drubbing of Hancock in Week 1. It was in the 90s in Underwood for their Week 1 game, but the Rockets made a workhorse out of junior Noah Thompson. He rushed for 285 yards and two TDs on 32 carries. Imagine what he can do with a slight breeze.

9. Moorhead (1-0)

Last week: 28-12 win over Alexandria at home

Next up: St. Cloud Apollo(1-0) at St. Cloud Apollo, 7 p.m., Friday

The Aaron Lien and Chase Morlock show is over and the Tyler Eidsness and Jade Lawrence show has begun. Eidness was efficient at QB for the Spuds, going 6-for-6 for 91 yards and a TD, while also running in a touchdown and Lawrence rushed for 94 yards and a TD on 14 carries.

With 31 having graduated, there are a lot of new Spuds, but they learned quickly. After giving up a 76-yard TD on the second play of the game, the defense, led by Ben Lien and Armando Rodriguez, gave up 6 points the rest of the way. It had one sack each from Lien and Rodriguez, an INT from Eidsness and a fumble recovery from Lawrence. After underthrowing a wide-open Brett Lawrence for an easy touchdown, Eidsness led him perfectly for a 53-yard touchdown later in the game. If the Spuds can win when they are learning, imagine what they can do when they get the hang of everything.

10. Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton (1-0)

Last week: 20-6 win over East Grand Forks at EGF

Next up: Pelican Rapids (0-1) at Pelican Rapids, 7 p.m., Friday

D-G-F opened up last season with a 22-6 loss to EGF and proceeded to win two games the entire year. They are halfway there after the Rebels defense forced two interceptions – one which was taken back 70 yards for a touchdown by Chad Johnson and another which was taken back to the EGF 36 by Tanner McManus to set up another touchdown – and a fumble against EGF.

The D-G-F defense will have to slow down Pelican Rapid Ryan Bruggeman, who rushed for 147 yards, 65 of which was on a touchdown run, and returned a punt 57 yards for a touchdown versus Perham, in Week 2.

Chris Murphy can be reached at 701-241-5548 or cmurphy@forumcomm.com. Follow him on Twitter @SeeMurphsTweets for Minnesota prep updates and smart alecky remarks about sports, movies, music and life in general.

Are you serious? Not one of the teams you rank above Moorhead could even come close to beating the Spuds. So how do you rank these teams? The Spuds last time I checked were 4A, there is a huge difference between classes especially Big vs Small in football

ABOUT

Chris Murphy has been a sports reporter for the Forum since 2012. He's covered high school sports in Chicago, North Dakota and Minnesota since 2009 and, for some reason, has been given awards for doing so.